Wednesday, 28 September 2011

I just gave a talk at the Lighthouse, Brighton, on fractals ("The Fractal Universe).
It was part of the Brighton Digital Festival. Pecha Kucha is a 20×20 format where a series of presenters stand up and talk in front of a slideshow of exactly twenty slides, that are shown for exactly twenty seconds each. I was on first.

I hadn't been to one of these before, and with hindsight, I think I kinda missed the brief. The other presenters were using the talk to describe their recent work and their approach using digital technology ("this is me, here's some of my stuff, and here's how I make it").

That would have been much easier to prepare for and present (and probably easier to watch) than what I did, which was to attempt to compact an all-encompassing talk on the fundamental nature of fractals that could have been used as the basis of a major twelve-part BBC series, into a mere six minutes and forty seconds. It ended up as an exercise in talkingasfastasIpossiblycould for just under seven minutes as the slides clicked past. If you've ever tried explaining recursion in architecture, or the apparent large-scale fractal structure of the universe and its possible implications in twenty seconds flat, then you'll know what I mean. :)

On the upside, if anyone at the Beeb does want to turn "The Fractal Universe" into a TV series, give me a call...